Clean Fuel News

FHWA Alt Fuel Corridor Designations: 2019/Round 4 Request for Nominations Open

The Request For Nominations (RFN) for Round 4 of the FAST Act Section 1413 Alt Fuel Corridor Designation process has been issued by FHWA. 

Similar to last year, this RFN was issued directly to the FHWA Division Offices, which are located in each state.  The FHWA Division Offices will forward the RFN to their respective State departments of transportation (DOT) and metropolitan planning organizations to alert them of the opportunity to submit nominations.

The attached 2019 RFN includes infrastructure coverage criteria for each fuel type, information to be included in the nomination (narrative and technical), points of contact, and direction on submittals.  Below are some items of note for this fourth round of nominations:

1. The due date for ALL nominations is COB February 26, 2020.
2. The RFN requires corridor/station specific information to be included in the nomination proposal, such as station addresses, first and last fueling station on the corridor, distances between stations, connector type for EVSE, and corridor map.
3. Provides ability to nominate new corridors or add fuel types to existing corridors from the previous rounds.
4. Requires a description of the plan for signage on the corridor.
5. GIS shapefiles required for the nominated highways.
6. There are not any changes related to the criteria associated with Corridor-Ready/-Pending designations in terms of distances between stations per fuel and distance from the highway.
7. However, a new requirement for Round 4 designation nominations is that for a corridor to be considered EV Ready, the stations/sites should have both J1772 combo (CCS) and CHAdeMO connectors.  See the RFN for more details.
8. Another change for Round 4 is that FHWA is limiting the number of US highways/State roads to 1-2 per nomination so the “build-out” of fueling/charging infrastructure is focused on the Interstates across the country and flipping corridor-pending Interstates to corridor-ready.  As required previously, there must be a compelling case made as to why US highways/State roads should be considered for designation.   
9. The AFDC contains station data for nominating corridors which provides station data and shapefiles by state and fuel type.  Additionally, the site contains a prototype mapping tool to explore potential corridors by fuel.  These resources can be found at: https://www.afdc.energy.gov/corridors  
10. A portal has been established to upload proposals and shapefiles and access to the portal must be requested per the instructions in the RFN.
11. Nominations that take into consideration the next fueling site over state or international borders are encouraged.
12. FHWA has identified the following areas of interest for nominations:
1. States that have no corridor designations (pending or ready)
2. States that have not submitted an application as a lead.
3. States that currently have existing Interstates/highways that are corridor-ready for one or more alternative fuels, but have not submitted a nomination.
4. Nominations that will complete the nation’s longest and heavily traveled highways for one of more alternative fuels.  For example, I-95, I-10, I-80, I-40, I-35, I-65, I-70, I-81, I-90.

A webinar will be scheduled in the near future to provide information on the nomination to stakeholders and answer questions. 

Information on the Alt Fuel Corridor Designation process can be found at:

https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/alternative_fuel_corridors/

https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/alternative_fuel_corridors/resources/rfn4.cfm

See the full Request for Nominations document here:

https://louisianacleanfuels.starchapter.com/images/downloads/2019_round_4_afc_request_for_nominations_10_25_19_final.pdf